| Abstract: | SUMMARIES. In the near future, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) might be an alternative source for museum lighting. Here we compare the quality of colour rendering of various LED white lights at about the same colour temperature and illuminance: RGB LED cluster ‘RGB’; RGBAmber LED cluster ‘RGBA’; two-phosphor cool White + Amber LED cluster ‘2PWA’; and a continuous light. The experimentation consists of testing colour discrimination using the Desaturated Lanthony-Panel D15 discrimination test illuminated by the various LED clusters and continuous light. The samples of the test cover the full hue circle, and errors in the classification by colour-normal observers reveal an abnormality of the illumination spectrum. Thirty-nine young colour-normal observers took part in the experiment. All LED clusters induce errors in the classification: ‘2PWA’ induces moderate errors compared with the continuous light at the same illuminance; ‘RGBA’ induces 1.5 times more errors than ‘2PWA’; ‘RGB’ induces 2.5 times more errors than ‘RGBA’. Errors are typical of an impairment of colour vision in the direction of yellow colour blindness, owing to the holes in their spectra. In conclusion, as far as colour discrimination is concerned, the visitor will probably reject the RGB cluster. A supplementation of light offered by the 2PWA cluster in the missing parts of the spectrum is a real improvement. |
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